A group of Braddock residents and activists from neighboring areas, and the group Save Our Community Hospitals, this afternoon filed another suit against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, challenging the hospital system's tax-exempt status and demanding that it re-open the Braddock hospital it closed last month.

"As tax-exempt charities, defendants' primary purpose is to provide hospital care (and in particular with respect to UPMC Braddock) for citizens of Braddock and neighboring communities. Their closing of Braddock hospital violates defendants' charitable purpose," stated the 80-page suit filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

The plaintiffs, who are asking a judge to order the re-opening of the hospital, include Annette Baldwin, Linda J. White, Michelene C. Thomas, Delia Ann Lennon Winstead, Patricia A. Morgan, Virginia C. Eskridge, Michael Stout, and the group Save Our Community Hospitals, non-profit formed last year to fight the hospital's closure.

Representing the group is Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. McCullough, who, in a last-ditch effort tried to stop the hospital's closure last month through an emergency or temporary injunction, which was thrown out by Common Pleas Judge Gene Strassburger.

Unlike his last attempt, when he sought to stop the hospital's closure in his capacity as a county councilman, Mr. McCullough, R-Upper St. Clair, said he is simply the attorney of record this time.

"I'm not claiming standing here," Mr. McCullough said.

This suit, he added, is premised on the fact that UPMC, as a "quasi-public entity" because of its tax-exempt status, debt financing through county and state secured bonds, cannot arbitrarily close its hospital in a community like Braddock, where it primarily serves poor people who are predominantly black.

"[UPMC] cannot summarily destroy a hospital, which it holds in trust for the people," said Mr. McCullough, who is also asking for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to use its King's Bench power to take immediate jurisdiction over the case.

A common law phrase, King's Bench refers to a legal practice that dictates that the highest court in the land has the power to seize a case from a lower court and take it over, if it so chooses.

Meanwhile, Mr. McCullough has also appealed to Superior Court, Judge Strassburger's denial of an emergency injunction to stop the hospital's closure, in which he said UPMC's decision might have been unpopular, but not illegal.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.